Piety on the pilgrimage

"A mountain temple, Senyuji stands out for having had its main image carved by a woman. The figure of the thousand-armed Kannon was carved in the seventh century by a young woman, who is supposed to have prostrated herself after every cut of the knife. Several of the temples where the main image was carved by the Daishi also claim this kind of reverence during the making of the image. The next level of holiness in carving requires prostrating and reciting a prayer before each cut, as well as the post-cut recitation."

-Temple 58, Senyuji1

This particular quote is one I stumbled across while bringing mazisexton a copy of the book it's found in. There's something about this sort of action that speaks to me deeply.

The Shikoku pilgrimage interests me quite a bit: architecturally, spiritually, and academically. To say nothing of the fact that I promised mazisexton that I'd make it happen sometime with her.

But today, I ran across the paper I'd written that quote down on, and I remembered how much I just wanted to share it, to mention it, particularly to ADF Dedicants working on their understanding of piety. And I remembered how good that felt. And I certainly remembered the fact that that's really all I want to do on so many days. And that felt good to remember.